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Canadian long shot Marchand enjoying LPGA ride: Feschuk

Brittany Marchand, who lives out of her car and makes peanuts on the developmental tour, plays her way into contention at the Manulife LPGA Classic in Cambridge. A nice paycheque on Sunday would come in mighty handy.

Canadian Brittany Marchand, a regular on the developmental tour, shot 67 and sits five shots back heading into the final round of the LPGA Tour stop in Cambridge, Ont. (Dave Chidley / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

CAMBRIDGE, ONT.—As an aspiring member of the LPGA Tour, life isn’t normally this glamourous for Brittany Marchand.

Marchand, who’s age 24 and from Orangeville, shot a 67 on Saturday to move into a tie for ninth heading into Sunday’s final round of the Manulife LPGA Classic, five shots back of tournament leader Lexi Thompson. Suddenly Marchand, ranked 558th in the world and largely unknown compared to more famous golfing compatriots Brooke Henderson and Alena Sharp, was the object of considerable home-soil adoration.

“It’s kind of nice to have somebody cheering for you,” Marchand said with a giggle. “Because usually it’s just your host family, two people on the side, or your mom that travelled and came to see you.”

Marchand usually plays on the developmental Symetra Tour, where relative obscurity comes attached to considerable poverty. This year, for instance, Marchand has won $7,510 (all figures U.S.) in prize money in eight events. When you subtract the $4,000 she has spent in $500-per-tournament entry fees, that’s a $3,510 takeaway, not including expenses like gas and food.

“If you saw my car right now, you’d be shocked. I live out of it,” she said.

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Sharp, who shot 70 on Saturday to sit three shots behind Thompson at 14 under par for the tournament, can relate.

“You’re barely making money,” said Sharp, who has spent time on the Symetra Tour. “It’s so little money that $500 can make or break getting your (LPGA Tour) card. It is a grind, and it’s definitely way different than being out here. We’re very fortunate out on the LPGA. I mean, we’re very lucky.”

Indeed, while Sunday’s winner will take home a cheque worth $255,000, Marchand spends time on the Symetra Tour bunking with host families who offer free lodging and the occasional dinner. Sometimes she even accepts the services of a volunteer caddie, although given the hit-and-miss nature of the workforce — “There’s times you get somebody who really doesn’t know what to do, so they’re nervous,” she said — mostly she transports her clubs in a push cart. In other words, she doesn’t have much in common with Henderson, the top Canadian in the world rankings at No. 15, who shot a 68 to sit tied for 14th here. Henderson has earned more than $2 million in prize money, plus more in endorsements, since turning pro in 2015.

This week Marchand at least has the benefit of an experienced looper lugging her clubs. Both Marchand and Binupa Wijesinghe, 28, are members of the Brampton Golf Club. Wijesinghe is an aspiring pro himself who has spent time caddying at Arizona’s Whisper Rock Golf Club, where he has carried bags for regulars such as Phil Mickelson and Graham DeLaet.

“I actually was really comfortable. It helps to have a friend on the bag. He’s like, ‘Walk slow. Calm down.’ So that really helped,” said Marchand, an alumnus of North Carolina State University. “But I’m just trying to have fun. And that really helps, because if I just try to enjoy it I don’t think about what the outcome could be.”

The outcome, of course, could be a relative king’s ransom. A top-10 finish here could mean a cheque worth considerably more than the $23,556 she netted after entry fees on the Symetra Tour last summer, when she finished 37th on the money list. That tour’s top 10 players earn an LPGA Tour card, which is the whole point of the hand-to-mouth exercise.

“Last year I had an okay year, but I still profited a little bit because I tried to cut my costs really low. So it’s possible (to make money), but it’s not great living,” she said. “You’ve pretty much got to be top 10 every week to be actually making anything on top of your expenses. Some of the smaller purses, like $100,000 (to be dispersed among the cut-making field), you might just make the cut and still not make your money.”

None of that seemed to matter to the many fans who approached her for photos after Saturday’s round, wherein Marchand held her own playing alongside world No. 2 Ariya Jutanugarn, who shot a 65 to move into a tie for fourth place, three shots off the lead. Grown men handed Marchand their hats, which she obligingly returned with an autograph. And when a young boy asked her for a golf ball — and Marchand happily dug into her bag to find one for him — it felt as though someone should have intercepted the exchange. Sorry, son, but Brittany isn’t quite in a position to be giving out freebies at this juncture of her career.

“My goal was to make the cut here. Obviously now my goal’s higher,” she said. “But I just wanted to put four solid rounds together out here. If I can do that, I’m going to take the experience as a win.”

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